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Sunday, 10 August 2014

ARC Review: Since You've Been Gone by Mary Jennifer Payne

Goodreads Synopsis:

Is it possible to outrun your past?
Fifteen-year-old Edie Fraser and her mother, Sydney, have been trying to do
just that for five years. Now, things have gone from bad to worse. Not only has
Edie had to move to another new school she's in a different country.Sydney promises her that this is their chance at
a fresh start, and Edie does her best to adjust to life in London, England,
despite being targeted by the school bully. But when Sydney goes out to work
the night shift and doesn't come home, Edie is terrified that the past has
finally caught up with them.Alone in a strange country, Edie is afraid to
call the police for fear that she ll be sent back to her abusive father.
Determined to find her mother, but with no idea where to start, she must now
face the most difficult decision of her life.

Review:

***I received the eBook free as a review copy from the publisher through Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review***

I don’t usually review contemporaries because I’ve found
that they can be quite repetitive for me but this one sparked my interest
straight away; and not because the cover reminded me of Kelly Clarkson’s song with
the same name so get all the singing out of your system now!

In the end I’m glad I read this book because it wasn’t the
happy-go-lucky love story I’ve read before and while some might say it had
quite a depressing feel, I’d prefer to say it was more down to earth because it
referenced real problems. There were definitely a lot of strong themes
mentioned in this book particularly when we see Edie the main protagonist join
a new school. It included standing up for yourself against bullies, and moving
on whether you do it through forgiveness or forgetting. I would have liked to
see them more developed but the full book is only around 200 pages so the plot
had to move fast.

Even with a quick pace Mary Payne still included a lot of
time for you to get to know the characters in her book, and by doing this
through scenes in everyday places like train stations and of course star bucks
it made everything more relatable.

Edie is a very (and forgive the phrase) real character and
it was easy to envision what she was going through. The author doesn’t have to
say exactly what she’s feeling because it’s easy to pick up through her
actions, and I think this is the best way to write characters and a great
achievement as well. Edie doesn’t quite have the bad-ass attitude I’ve come to
enjoy in YA books, and her strength instead shines through in those terrible
situations when you have to fight for yourself and the people you love in not
such a physical way. This worked well and also showcased more depths to her personality,
rather than basing it on whether or not she can knock someone out with a punch
to the face.

The other main protagonist is Jermaine, and while I enjoyed
learning about his past as well and how it’s changed him I would have liked
even more to see how it influenced his relationship with Edie on a longer time
scale. It didn’t feel very rushed as I read it but looking back I realised it
was very much a new and subtler version of insta-love.

I enjoyed it all the same and would recommend this book when
it comes out in January to readers looking for a very quick read about love and
trust, which sticks with you even after you’ve finished.

Favourite Quotes:

“My life is never
stable. It’ as if I balance on a series of tectonic plates like the ones under
the Pacific Ring of Fire.”

“I was ten years old
when we began running, and I’ve been leaving pieces of myself, of my heart, in
different apartments, cities, and schools ever since.”

“Did he really forget
what it’s like to be a teenager? We’re hardly a team. It’s more like survival
of the fittest.”

“If I went punching
every twat and idiot I encounter in this city on a daily basis, I’d have fists
as raw as mince.”

Disclaimer

I can guarantee that all of my reviews are honest, which includes the reviews I have written based on review copies I have received which are clearly specified. The fact that they are review copies has no impact on my thoughts and opinions stated in the review. I do not receive any form of monetary compensation for my reviews from authors/publishers.